Joseph Entin

Challenging the conventional wisdom that the 1930s were dominated by literary and photographic realism, this book uncovers a rich vein of experimental work by politically progressive artists. Examining images by photographers such as Weegee and Aaron Siskind and such as fiction writers as William Carlos Williams, Richard Wright, Tillie Olsen, and Pietro di Donato, Joseph Entin argues that these artists drew attention to the country's most vulnerable residents by using what he calls an "aesthetic of astonishment"—startling, graphic images of pain, injury, and prejudice—to shock middle-class audiences into new ways of seeing the nation's impoverished and outcast populations. Joseph Entin is an assistant professor of English at Brooklyn College and teaches in the M.A. program in liberal studies at the Graduate Center.